Ghana Eyes Ambitious Bids for Olympics and FIFA World Cup

Ghana has eyed bidding for the 2038 FIFA World Cup and a future edition of the Olympic Games as part of its 40-year national development plan.

The African nation has outlined the ambitions plans following work by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).

Dr Nii Moi Thompson, the director general of the NDPC, told Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana program that the World Cup bid is dependent on the country fulfilling other financial and infrastructure targets set in the draft plan, which was handed over to the Government last month.

Thompson also envisaged the possibility of Ghana hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games at some stage.

As part of the plan, a new stadium called the “Black Star Stadium” will be constructed with the “best 21st century technology”.

The stadium will be connected to road and rail networks and will include a solar-panel roof.

South Africa is the only African country to have hosted the World Cup, in 2010, while the Olympic and Paralympic Games have never taken place on the continent.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo received the plan on September 26, 2017 and admitted that it “presents my Government and subsequent Governments with a daunting task, not so much the implementation, but to stay on track and ensure we have the desired outcome”.

“We must be able to monitor our progress, and redirect our paths when we seem to be deviating from them,” he added.

“We must, therefore, make rapid progress, and do things to ensure that we achieve it.”

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